Features
We've interviews with Routemaster experts and enthusiasts, we take a look at the way buses have featured in popular culture, and try to solve the age-old mystery as to why three always turn up at once...
Talking to an Expert
Who designed the Routemaster? Why was it commissioned? What's so special about the design? Read our interview with Oliver Green - Head Curator at the London Transport Museum - to find out more.
'The Bus We Loved'
In 2005, Travis Elborough’s book 'The Bus We Loved' was published. It tells the history of the Routemaster’s invention, rise and decline, the people who worked on it, and its enthusiasts.
London Buses in Popular Culture
First introduced to London in 1956, the AEC Routemaster bus has made an appearance in many films, pop videos and television programmes, usually to symbolise England, freedom, spontaneity and youth.
Waiting for a Bus…
There is a strange phenomenon regarding buses. You wait ages for one, then three come along at once! English poet Wendy Cope wrote a poem about this annoying occurence, comparing buses to men.
Lost Property
Assuming they get given in, London passengers' mislaid bits and bobs are in safe hands. London Transport deals with more than 130,000 pieces of lost property each year on its buses, trains, taxis and stations.
Drivers and Conductors
With the phasing out of the Routemaster comes the end of a relationship almost as iconic as the bus itself – the double act of driver and conductor.
Staff
By the end of 1947, London Transport employed nearly 100,000 people – including 11,220 bus conductors, 8,283 drivers and 803 inspectors. The company even had its own butchery at Griffin House in Marylebone until 1955 so that its canteens could feed the hundreds of staff on their breaks.
Film: 19: 50 Years Of The Routemaster
Never been on a Routemaster? See what it's like with Sharif Moran's film of a number 19 on its route from Finsbury Park Station to Battersea Bridge. Click below to watch a clip.
